Minister for Education and Training Jeremy Rockliff has today unveiled a $3.23 Million major refurbishment at New Town High School.

“The Hodgman Government has made education a priority since coming to government and the New Town High School refurbishment is part of a $110 Million investment being made in State School infrastructure.” Mr. Rockliff said.

Features of the refurbishment include redevelopment of the main student entrance, administration area, and archive facilities.

“Our long term plan for education includes extending high schools to year 12 so more students’ complete year 12 and has the skills they need to get a job or continue their education.” Mr. Rockliff said.

“We are already seeing positive results, with a 57% increase in enrolments in the 12 schools that have extended since 2014. There has also been an impressive rise in the apparent retention rate in Years 10 to 12 from 70.1% in 2014 to 73.8% in 2015.”

“We have a goal to lead the nation in education and the 2016 NAPLAN (National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy) results prove we are making progress in language and literacy for our younger students.”

This success is underpinned by the creation of 25 extra literacy and numeracy specialists.

“We have also reintroduced school nurses, with funding of $5.8 Million for the School Health Nurse Program to support schools, families and communities to help foster healthy choices.” Mr. Rockliff said.

A total of 20 FTE (Full Time Equivalents) nurses in 2017 recently announced double the original 10 FTE nurse numbers who started work in Term 3, 2015.

Research indicates that early access to education is critically important for the future prosperity of our young people and the prosperity of our state. That is why we have introduced legislation for a new Education Act which will enable children to access quality play based early learning six months earlier.

“There is however always more work to be done which is why we are staying the course on our long term reforms and investing a record $1.48 Billion into education and training over the next four years.” Mr. Rockliff said.